


Sandcastles

by psychicdreamsandangelwings



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alexandria Safe-Zone Isn't Very Accepting, Carl Doesn't Like That, Carl Is Basically The Best Brother Ever, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Judith is adorable, M/M, Protective Carl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-29
Updated: 2015-05-29
Packaged: 2018-04-01 19:48:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4032421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/psychicdreamsandangelwings/pseuds/psychicdreamsandangelwings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The teenagers at Alexandria have lived a very sheltered life and still hold on to the judgmental views of their parents, despite the fact the world is completely different from how it used to be. Carl doesn't like this, especially not when Ron and Mikey start talking shit about Daryl and Rick's relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sandcastles

**Author's Note:**

> Not really sure where this idea came from but I liked it so much I just had to roll with it. Do I think Ron and Mikey would really act like this? Probably not, but it was still interesting to write.
> 
> Hope you enjoy.

Carl doesn’t like the other kids at Alexandria, except for maybe Enid, and he doesn’t think he ever will. No matter how hard he tries to relate to them, he just can’t. He doesn’t care about school or video games or playing pool, those are luxuries he never expected to experience again. He’s never had the chance to be a normal kid in this hellish world they’ve found themselves thrust into and he barely remembers what the world was like before the dead stopped staying dead. The kids here, however, have. They’re too sheltered, too safe, and he knows they wouldn’t last a single day out in the real world.

They still cling to how the world used to be, a fact that’s going to get them killed one of these days. They’re blinded by their big houses, running water, and electricity, too naïve to see what’s really going on. It’s almost like there’s a barrier between him and them, separating their civilized lives from his rabid one, and he doesn’t think he’ll ever overcome it, doesn’t think he wants to overcome it. They’re weak, too enthralled in their perfect little rendition of peacefulness to see the world as it is, and Carl’s not going to let himself succumb to their way of living. It’ll only get him, and the people he loves, killed. 

It’s not that these kids are bad people, because they really aren’t. Carl’s seen enough badness in his life to recognize the good, and these people are good. They’ve been nothing but nice to him, trying to include him in on everything, and it’s a welcome gesture that’s different than anything he’s ever experienced before. Every group they’ve ever come across has been murderous, it’s nice to know there’s still good people out there.

Their worlds just differ too much, their personalities are nothing alike, and he knows he’ll never feel like one of them. Alexandria is good, they people are good, and he likes it here. He and his people deserve to feel safe, Judith deserves to grow up in a place that’s void of bloodshed and close calls, but if he lets himself succumb to the illusion of safety he knows he’ll never make it out alive.

Carl’s out front of their house, playing with Judith in the makeshift sandbox Daryl had made with some of the supplies he and Aaron had picked up on their latest recruitment outing. She loves playing in the sand, letting handfuls of the stuff flow through her meaty fingers, and Carl’s just happy to see her happy. They've never had much to keep her entertained and knowing there's a plethora of inventory for her to play with makes him happy, she no longer had to settle for cups to play with and a box to sleep in.

“Alright Judith,” Carl says, putting the finishing touches on the sandcastle he’d been building for her. It’s nothing too fancy, he only built it because Judith loves knocking them down, and hadn’t spent too much time on it. “Let’s knock it down.”

He grabs hold of her hands and pulls her up, helping her get her balance on the uneven surface. He lets go once he’s sure she’s not going to fall over and Judith claps her hands together before stomping through the mound of sand, giggling as it comes tumbling down around them. Carl smiles, watching Judith play with a happy smile on her face. This is the life he knows his mom would want for them, the life he wants his sister to have, and he’ll do just about anything to make sure she has it. She, more than anyone, deserves to have a life like this.

Carl hands her a shovel and watches her smack it against the sand, laughing like a madwomen, for a few seconds before he sets about making the next sandcastle. He'd do anything to keep that smile on her face, even if he has to build a thousand sandcastles for her. Her happiness gives him hope, reminds him that not everything in the world is pure death and destruction, and it's pretty much his favorite thing on earth.

Carl's almost finished with the nextsand castle when he hears footsteps and quiet banter coming towards him. He looks up to see Mikey and Ron heading his way and Carl wishes he had the power of invisibility so he could just disappear. He doesn’t want to talk to them right now, isn’t in the mood to act like a normal kid, and he just wants them to leave him alone while he plays with his sister.

“Hey Carl,” Mikey says brightly, coming to a stop in front of the sandbox. “We’re going to go play some video games, wanna come?”

“Can’t,” Carl says, brushing some sand off of Judith’s back. “I’m watching Judith.” It's not exactly a lie, he really is watching Judith, but Rosita and Tara are inside and he knows they'd be willing to watch her for him. He just really doesn't want to go play video games right now.

“So take her with you,” Mikey says, shifting his weight to his other foot. “We don’t mind her coming with us. Judith's sweet, we love having her around.”

“Nah,” Carl says before dusting sand off of his hands and looking up at the two teenagers. “She’s having too much fun right now, I don’t want to pull her away from it.”

“Alright,” Ron says, taking a seat next to Carl on the lip of the sandbox and Mikey does the same thing. Carl doesn’t remember asking them to sit with him but apparently they feel the need to do so.

Everything’s quiet after that, the only sound that can be heard is Judith’s baby babble, but it’s a nice kind of quiet. They sit like that for a few more minutes, Carl working on his sandcastle while Mikey and Ron absentmindedly run handfuls of sand through their fingers.

Their silence is interrupted when the front door opens and Rick and Daryl step out of the house. Rick's in his normal clothes and Daryl's got his crossbow slung across his back and Carl figures they're probably on their way outside the walls. Daryl gets restless being cooped up inside when he and Aaron aren't out recruiting so he and Rick usually head out at least once a day when he's home. These outings help relieve Daryl of his restlessness and give them a chance to be alone at the same time.

"You still okay with watching Judith?" Rick asks as he and Daryl walk down their steps. 

"Yeah," Carl says, smiling. He has absolutely no problem watching his sister. "Have fun." He gives them a knowing wink and Daryl promptly flips him off, making Carl laugh. 

"Behave," Rick says with a smile, wrapping his hand around Daryl's, "both of you. We should be back in hour, if you need a break from Judith Rosita and Tara said they'd be happy to take her for you."

Carl just nods and Rick and Daryl head off towards the front gate. They walk close together, close enough that their hands brush against each other when they walk, and it's pretty obvious to anyone watching that they're a little more than just friends. 

"So are they faggots are something?” Mikey asks, not taking his eyes of off Daryl and Rick's retreating figures until they pass through the front gate. It takes Carl a few seconds to even register the derogatory term, he hasn’t heard the word used in years, but when he does a feeling of unease settles within him. He doesn't like it when people talk shit about the people he loves.

“What are you talking about?” Carl asks, looking over at Mikey who’s still sitting next to him.

"Rick and Daryl," Ron says, acting like he's trying to explain what one plus one is to a twelve year old. "I saw them the other day holding hands, we know they're fucking fags. Can't believe Deann's let in another gay couple. What's next? She gonna decide we should let walkers come in and dine with us? I don't think so."

“Does it matter?” Carl asks, neither confirming nor denying Ron and Mikey’s claim. Obviously they're a couple, but Carl really doesn't want to explain what the two of them have to two teenagers he hardly knows, it's really none of their damn business. Rick and Daryl don’t try and hide their relationship, he knows they don’t care who finds out about it, but he really doesn’t want to listen to any derogatory comments aimed at two people he cares a lot about.

“Yeah!” Ron says, looking confused as too why Carl wouldn't have the same opinion as them. “My Dad says there’s no place for faggots in this world, says it’s better if we just feed them to the walkers and be done with them. It would save everyone a lot of trouble.”

Carl resists the urge to react, clenching his fists tightly together as he grits his teeth. He wants to go off on them, hit them for talking shit about his family like that, but he tries his best to keep his cool. He knows he could kill them with his bare hands if he needed to but he promised his Dad he wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize their stay here.

Instead of speaking Carl decides to just keep his cool. If he says anything he knows it’ll just cause an argument and he’s still trying to avoid that as much as possible. He shakes his head and shrugs his shoulders, trying to dismiss the subject without invoking anger in anyone. It's hard to ignore his instinct to fight them, not when there's white hot anger puling through his veins as they speak.

“But they are faggots, like those queers Deanna allows to stay here for whatever reason. It’s not like they fit in anywhere,” Ron says, picking up another handful of sand. “I don’t know why they even bother staying here, they sure as hell ain't welcome. Eric's a flamer, half the time I can't even stand to be around him he acts like such a girl.”

“Try telling that to Daryl, I dare you,” Carl says, turning back towards what he’s building. Judith is still pounding her plastic shovel against the sand and he uses that to help ground him. Daryl’s always been protective of his people, clearly Aaron and Eric fall under that category, and he doesn't take lightly to those who attack the people he loves. If he heard anyone talking shit he’d make sure to set them straight, no matter how young they are. He’s not as good at keeping his cool as Carl is.

“It’s not like he would do anything,” Ron says, laughing like Carl’s just kidding around. "He wouldn't risk it."

Carl snorts and shakes his head. Obviously these kids don’t know Daryl, if Carl could kill them with his bare hands Daryl could do with both hands tied behind his back.

“I wonder who bottoms,” Ron says, drawing patterns into the sand by his feet, and acts like his question isn't totally out of line. “Rick’s had children before, he’s gotta be used to being on top. I bet Daryl’s the bitch in that equation. He'd probably beg anyone to fuck him, he's always seemed a little bit desperate.”

“It’s really none of your business,” Carl says, starting to lose his cool. Their words are beginning to sound too much like insults and Carl doesn’t like it one bit.

“They’re disgusting,” Ron says. “They don’t belong here, we should just throw them out and be down with that. Homosexuality is a sin, an inexcusable sin. There’s little kids here, your sister is around them 24/7, and they don’t need to start thinking that it’s okay to be gay.”

“Save your judgmental rant,” Carl says, voice rising as he gets angrier. “I don’t want to hear it.”

“How does this not bother you?” Mikey asks, looking over at Carl. “You’re so calm about everything, I don’t get that. I mean, you had a mom once. How can your Dad just decide he’s a faggot?”

“I don’t really think he just decided one day he likes dick,” Carl says, glaring at Mikey. “Sexuality doesn't work that way and I don’t care who my dad decides to sleep with. My mom’s dead, has been dead for a long time, and she's not coming back. If Daryl makes him happy, that’s all that matters to me. We haven't had a lot of that since this apocalypse started.”

“They’re going to hell,” Ron says, scratching at his head like he's trying to figure out the best way to say this. “God condemned all faggots to a lifetime in Hell.”

“Look around us,” Carl says, pointing to their surroundings. “We are already in Hell. God doesn’t exist and even if he did, he stopped caring about us a long time ago. There’s no room for bigotry in this world, only survival, and refusing to accept someone simply because they're different is basically signing a death wish.”

“You don’t actually mean that,” Mikey says, looking over at Carl like he’s a completely different person.

“Yeah, I do,” Carl says, finally fed up with them. “You don’t know what it’s like to be out there, because if you did you’d understand that there’s no room for discrimination. Out there, there’s only survival. Out there, family doesn’t end in blood. The people you surround yourself with is your family. When you’re starving, when your home is ripped out from under your feet, when you watch the people you love die right in front of you, you don’t care about a person’s sexual preference or the color of their skin. There’s more important things than that. It’s hard to find happiness in this world, and if Daryl makes my dad happy then I don’t care. I don’t care if he wants to fuck a tree, all I care about is him being happy. He definitely deserves that much.”

“But it’s not right,” Ron protests, matching Carl’s angry tone. “It’s disgusting, relationships are between a man and a woman and that's that. God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve, after all.”

“Yeah,” Mikey continues. “It’s not natural, I don’t want to see them hanging all over each other. I mean, I guess I can get lesbians but that's it. They don’t deserve to be here, the sooner you realize that the better.”

“I think you should go,” Carl says, glaring over at them. “Now.”

“But-” Ron says, trying once again to justify their beliefs.

Carl stands up, hands clenched tightly into fists, and all but growls at them. He's had it with them and he wants them off of his property now. “I said leave.”

Ron and Mikey must realize Carl’s serious because it only take them a few seconds to scramble their way out of the sandbox. “Whatever.” Mikey says as he and Ron turn around and start walking towards Ron’s house.

Carl only relaxes once they’re gone. He doesn’t understand how they could be so judgmental, it’s not even any of their business. He shakes his head and sits back down next to his partially rectified sandcastle. He looks at it for a few seconds before he shrugs, it’s close enough to done.

“Okay Judith, you want to knock it down again?” Carl asks, helping Judith stand up once more.

Judith giggles and claps her hands, the sandcastle crumbling around them as she stomps through it.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you thought.


End file.
